1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a component for a droplet deposition apparatus and more particularly a nozzle plate for a droplet deposition apparatus. A n ink jet printer is a particularly important example of droplet deposition apparatus.
2. Brief Description of the Related Technology
A nozzle plate is typically attached to a body of a droplet deposition apparatus having a plurality of ink ejection chambers to provide each chamber with a respective droplet ejection nozzle. Due to the accuracy with which ejection nozzles must be formed in the nozzle plate, for example to ensure uniformity of the size and velocity of droplets ejected from the ejection chambers, laser ablation is commonly used to form the nozzles in the nozzle plate. Plastics material such as polyimide, polysulphone or other such laser-ablatable plastics material is commonly used to form the nozzle plate, and after the application of an ink-repellant layer to one face of the nozzle plate, each nozzle is formed by exposing the plate to a laser beam, such as an excimer laser beam, of appropriate diameter. The nozzle plate, complete with nozzles, is then bonded to the body of the apparatus with each nozzle aligned with a respective chamber formed in the body.
The use of plastics material for the nozzle plate tends to make the nozzle plate relatively weak, and thus prone to mechanical damage. While stiffer materials, such as metallic or ceramics material, may be used for the nozzle plate, accurate nozzles are less readily formed in the nozzle plate.
It has been proposed in the prior art, e.g. from WO 02/098666, that nozzle plates may be formed from a metal plate containing an aperture into which a polymer material is injected. A nozzle is subsequently formed through the polymeric material.